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“I’M TALKING”: Barack Obama shuts down heckler in true presidential fashion

“I’M TALKING”: Barack Obama shuts down heckler in true presidential fashion

"I'M TALKING": Barack Obama shuts down heckler in true presidential fashion

Former President Barack Obama just shut down a heckler who tried to interrupt him while campaigning in Detroit Saturday for Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

“That’s not how we do things,” the always classy Obama told the heckler.

“Right now, I’m talking. You’ll have a chance to talk sometime later,” he later added.

As the crowd erupted into cheers, chanting “OBAMA,” the former President continued to talk about the need for civil discourse and dialogue.

“We don’t need to interrupt each other, we don’t have to shut each other down. It’s not a great way to do business. Just basic civility and courtesy works, and that’s what we wanna try and encourage,” the former president said.

During his speech addressing the attack on Paul Pelosi, the 82-year-old husband of Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Obama talked of the consequences of the rhetoric coming from the right and the perils of not condemning it.

“Making wild, crazy allegations about them, that creates a dangerous climate. And if elected officials don’t do more to explicitly reject that kind of rhetoric. If they tacitly support it or encourage their supporters to stand outside voting places armed with guns and dressed in tactical gear, more people can get hurt. And we’re going to be violating the basic spirit of this country,” Obama warned.

It was then that an unknown male heckler attempted to interject.

“Sir, sir, c’mon,” Obama said. “But this is what I mean. This is what I mean, we’re having a conversation.”

Panning the diverse crowd, the camera focused on a young white male who could be seen yelling in President Obama’s direction before being escorted out.

Governor Whitmer has been the subject of death threats herself and is well aware of the dangers of hateful and conspiratorial rhetoric. She was the target of a violent kidnapping plot, where members of the Michigan-based Wolverine Watchmen militia planned to forcefully take the governor from her vacation home to torture and possibly kill her.

Watching Obama handle someone who doesn’t agree with him with civility and composure is a welcome change from the despicable violence-baiting of his successor in The White House, Donald Trump. In the words of the 44th President, “There is a process we set up in our democracy.”

And it should be protected at all costs.

Watch the clip below:

Follow Ty Ross on Twitter @cooltxchick

Ty Ross
News journalist for Occupy Democrats.

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